Turning the Time When You Didn’t Get the Job into a Positive Experience.

Everyone is a job seeker at some point in their career. You saw a great opportunity, applied, and went for an interview. You left feeling elated and thought you did great. A week later you check your email “Thank you for applying…we have decided to move forward with another candidate.” Your heart drops.

As professional recruiters, we see this story every day. There are many articles that speak about why you didn’t get the job and very few speak about how to handle a rejection.

A common reaction is self-destructive thoughts and so the greatest damage is self-inflicted. When your self-esteem has just taken a blow, you beat yourself up by exaggerating your shortcomings.

“I shouldn’t have said that”

“I’m an idiot”

“What’s wrong with me?”

These negative thoughts can prevent you from pursuing an even better opportunity or even worse, a sense of desperation in your next interview. You don’t like feeling like that and the hiring manager doesn’t like seeing it.

Rejection is a part of life and it is important to have a healthy association to it. Here are a few things to consider:

Set the right expectations for yourself before the interview

You may get the job, you may not. This will be a great experience for you. You’re going to get an opportunity to learn about a new company and meet some great people.

Don’t let yourself self-criticise

There are multiple factors that determine if a person is a good fit for a role. Don’t treat what you think are your failures as facts. Be confident in your abilities.

Remember your self-worth

You’ve had many accomplishments to date and this rejection is not going to change that. Rejection questions your need to belong. Remind yourself that there are people who appreciate you like colleagues, family or friends.

Learn from the experience.

Thinking, “Why did I say that?” is not effective. Instead, “Next time, a better response would have been…” gives you back the feeling of control and allows you to focus on the things that matter.

When you master rejection, you open yourself up to more opportunities.